"When I was a pup," Noeta said, "I had two siblings named Cassus and Stella. Stella flew off a cliff when I was three months old. Her wings weren't strong enough and she's either crippled or dead. Either way none of us ever found her again. Cassus was, well, the leader of the group. And not a very good one, I have to add. He was way to harsh. He always took more food than he could even eat and wrecked the surplus stuff he took so it couldn't be eaten.
"When we were nearly a year old he found a nice mate named Aessa...or Asta or something like that. They had two pups named Thayma and Lystra. He visted me sometimes with his power. It...it's walking dreams. It was clear to me he was still an ambitious fool but also a dangerous one. He told me about his dreams of becoming a guardian. He would work with the others and one day make an army great enough to destroy them. It...it scared me Rose. For a while he acted like I was his accomplice. As he countinued this his plans got less irrational and more possible.
"Then I couldn't stand it. I tried to steal the pups from them. It was terrible and chaotic. I barely remember it. It was all just shouting and snarling and blood."
Noeta looked at Rose. She was starting to see it again, trickling across the leaves...
"Me and Cassus got in a fight. He called me a traitor. He said I was trying to destroy him. I called him the same thing for trying to make such terrible plans. It got violent. I remember his mate screaming at the pups to get in the den.
"Then that stupid little she-pup. The one named Lystra, I think. I don't know what happened. She was either scared or confused or trying to break us apart. Either way, me and Cassus were tumbling and slashing. The moon was only a sliver of light, we could barely see if we were biting ourselves or the other.
"I heard this howl. The most insane and mournful howl a creature can let loose. I froze, the sound of a mother trying to save her pup ringing in my ears. We both tried to save the pup, but someone had struck her a blow to great to repair. One of us..." Noeta sobbed, "One of us had killed Lystra."
"Cassus gave up on his plans as far as I know. I never saw him again. But now I know he's with Thunder and he still has his pup, Thayma or Spera whatever she's named now."